To Darkness She Be Drawn
by Moony-Blues
Summary: What might have happened if DG hadn't run away that fateful day in the cave? How would things have been different if Azkadellia hadn't been possessed? AU Pre-series.


It was a perfect, sunshiny day as two little girls, sisters, romped around a pristine lake. A slight breeze blew, cooling what would have otherwise been a hot afternoon. It whipped through the girls' hair, teasing little whisps of it around their faces and enhancing the impression that these were fairytale princesses playing with pixies. They skipped rocks across the water, ran together in a race around the gazebo where their mother sat watching from a rope swing, and sang a little lullaby that their mother had taught them when they were much smaller.

Azkadellia and DG, the two young daughters of the Queen of the Outer Zone, certainly were enjoying their lazy summer afternoon. It was storybook perfect, with the scenery of the pristine lake and dark forest nearby. That is, it was perfect until DG, the younger of the two girls, straightened up and looked around curiously. She had been crouched with Azkadellia over a heaped up pile of smoothly worn rocks. DG peered into the nearby tree line.

"Did you hear that?" she asked.

A puzzled look crossed Azkadellia's face.

"Hear what?" Azkadellia tilted her head. She hadn't heard anything at all.

"Let's go see what it is," said DG as she stood and took a few steps toward the forest.

"No," said Azkadellia as she stood to join her sister. She might not have heard anything, but she knew that DG should be kept reigned in when it came to matters of imagination. "We should get back. Mom said to stay close."

But little DG would not be swayed, and she bravely declared, "If we did everything Mom said, we'd never have any fun! Come on, it'll be like an adventure."

And DG trotted off for the trees. Her sister huffed, clearly annoyed and growing slightly cross.

"Your adventures have a way of getting me into trouble!" Azkadellia called after her DG's retreating back.

DG just kept trotting forward, into the forest. Azkadellia's stomach turned nervously. Normally, a trip into the forest would not have been so very daunting, but when DG uttered the word "adventure," it usually meant that apple or berry picking turned into close encounters with bears. The fact that her little sister's intent was not a simple quest for apples this time made Azkadellia more than slightly apprehensive. She huffed out another small breath and followed her sister with the hope that she could persuade her to come back home before they both got into serious trouble.

It didn't take long for Azkadellia to catch up with DG. Azkadellia tried unsuccessfully to convince her sister to turn around and head back for the castle. She gave up after a short time and then concentrated on keeping her feet from becoming entangled in the dense undergrowth. The girls walked through the forest for at least fifteen minutes together, carefully stepping over gnarled vines and knotted tree trunks. There was no trail to follow, and Azkadellia couldn't hear whatever had caught DG's attention. She just hung a few steps back, letting DG lead the way into the darkening forest.

They finally came to the mouth of a large cave. The trees above it had spread their roots down, obscuring the entrance slightly and crumbling some of the rock. It had an oppressive air hanging around it. Azkadellia didn't like the look of it at all.

"Do you hear that?" asked DG again, her head cocked to one side and deep curiosity in her wide eyes.

This time Azkadellia did hear a weak and plaintive wail on the wind. If she hadn't been nervous before, she certainly was now. There was something to the cry that was cold, something desperate, something—_evil_. Azkadellia's stomach twisted into a knot of apprehension.

"We should go get mom and dad," declared Azkadellia with as much bravado she could muster as she reached for DG's hand.

DG slipped out of her sister's grasp easily and stepped into the cave without another word. As she entered the inky blackness of its maw, she disappeared from her sister's sight. 

Azkadellia didn't know what to do. She should go and get her parents, but she couldn't leave DG alone in the heart of the forest. Azkadellia made up her mind and steeled her nerves.

"Your adventures have a way of getting me into trouble!" she called for a second time, the words more insistent than before as she took the timid step forward into the cave.

A cold wind met her as she walked into the cave. The wind caressed her face, its damp fingers making her skin feel clammy. Once inside, Azkadellia noticed that the air was chilly and there was hardly any light by which to see. DG called out, her long "hello" echoing off the rock walls. Azkadellia saw a lantern sitting on a rock, picked it up, and waved her hand in front of it. A bright white light magically appeared in side it, shining weakly on the walls and illuminating some strange symbols that Azkadellia had seen in some of her lesson books. DG was fascinated by them.

"Look at this," she said in amazement.

"It's the picture language of the ancients," said Azkadellia as she held the lantern a little closer to the symbols. Her voice reflected some of the awe that she felt at seeing the symbols so close. She momentarily forgot her fear.

"Can you tell what it means?" asked DG.

"Some," said Azkadellia, translating as closely as she could, which meant that she only understood the basic meaning of the archaic phrases. "'At the dawn of time, good battled evil, and the light conquered over the darkness.' And something about an evil witch…"

The girls ventured a little farther into the cave. Before very long, they came to the back of the cave and what appeared to be a solid wall. Azkadellia's fear had returned in full measure. She took a nervous breath, and attempted to draw her little sister out the cave.

"Well, that was fun," she said with a shaky breath. Azkadellia turned on her heel, but DG's next word only made her more nervous.

"Wait."

Azkadellia turned around again, tentatively holding the lantern aloft. In the faint light, she hadn't seen the huge carving on the back of the cave at first. But now as she grasped tighter on the grip of the lantern, its light fell on a massive stone face. She took a nervous breath.

"Whoa," breathed DG excitedly. Unlike Azkadellia, DG was fascinated by this face, the mysterious likes of which she'd never before seen.

Azkadellia was scared. For her, the stone face held no fascination. Rather, it reminded her too much of the scary stories that their mother's advisor, Ambrose, usually told them when their mother wasn't in the room. She tried very hard to keep her fear from affecting the timber of her voice as she spoke.

"What iis/i this place?"

"It looks ancient. Maybe it's a tomb," offered DG excitedly.

"I'm not sure but that face creeps me out. Let's go." Azkadellia again moved to grab her sister's hand and lead her out of the cave before the trouble came. But DG was nothing if not persistent.

"Don't you hear it?" asked DG again, unable to believe that Azkadellia could ignore the cry coming from inside the huge, stone face.

Azkadellia listened, trying to drown out every noise but the strange voice. It was still there, crying pitifully. It seemed like it was coming from inside the face. Azkadellia knew that this could not be a good sign. She had been learning several things from Tutor in their history lessons, and one thing that stuck out in her memory was the fact that colossal carvings such as this one usually were made to keep very bad things in very secure places.

"There's someone trapped in there," said DG, concern in her voice.

DG stepped forward too quickly for Azkadellia to pull her back. The smaller princess just walked right up to the stone face and put her hand in its mouth. The place where DG had 

put her hand began to glow, sending magic coursing through the cave chamber as DG began to cry out, obviously in pain.

"DG!" cried Azkadellia as she rushed forward, placing her hand on her sister's and pulling, hopeful that the magic that Tutor had taught them would break the hold of whatever had DG in its grasp. Both girls stumbled backward as the magic holding DG let go, and Azkadellia didn't dare begin to hope that the danger had passed. As both sisters began to back out of the cave, a the light that had begun to glow from the mouth of the great stone face grew, getting brighter and brighter. A second later, the face burst open with a loud "BANG!"

The chilling crying behind the face was louder without the obstruction of the thick stone. Both Azkadellia and DG stepped closer, drawn inexorably by the sound of it. Both of their faces reflected utter shock, though DG's carried a hint of amazement.

"What have we done?" asked Azkadellia tremulously as they stepped through the new opening.

Her eyes fell upon a small girl standing against the solid wall of the cave. The little girl was dressed in a simple little dress. She had curly brown hair, part of which was tied back in a pretty little bow. She couldn't have been very much older than DG. Everything about this little girl seemed sugary sweet, right down to the little shoes she was wearing. Azkadellia couldn't tell why, but something about the little girl made her skin crawl.

iMaybe it's because she was magically sealed in a dark cave…/i

DG didn't appear to have the same impression of the girl. Concern filled her voice as DG said, "Hey, are you okay?"

The strange girl didn't reply. She continued crying, her face buried in her arms as she leaned into the wall. DG seemed intent to get a response from what she must have thought was a new friend. She stepped forward, only to be caught by Azkadellia before she could go very far.

"No," said Azkadellia sternly. "Wait."

Azkadellia stepped in front of DG and turned to the strange girl.

"How did you get here?" she asked.

"Help me," was the only response she was given.

"Our parents aren't far," said Azkadellia as she tried to take a step back, pushing DG behind her. "We'll go and bring back help."

"No!" came the reply, but it didn't come from the lips of a little girl. As she'd turned around, the little girl suddenly became the most frightening hag of a witch that either DG or Azkadellia had ever seen. Her putridly greenish-gray skin festered with boils and warts. The clean dress was replaced with ripped and tattered black rags. The hair that had been long brown ringlets now hung around the witch's face in greasy strings.

Azkadellia and DG immediately linked hands and a soft white light began to glow between them. DG's eyes were now wide with fear as she gripped her sister's hand tightly. Azkadellia tried to make her face as calm and resolute as possible, but the steadiness didn't quite reach her eyes.

"I mean, please," said the witch, whimpering as she reached out for the girls, "don't leave me alone!"

A chittering noise above them drew the girls eyes to the ceiling of the chamber. Azkadellia could make out the faintest shadows and outlines of some very hideous flying _things_ just above the witch's head. Though the witch seemed unperturbed by their presence, Azkadellia knew that they couldn't possibly be innocent bats. They looked more like skeletal winged monkeys than anything, as far as she could tell.

"I've been waiting, calling," said the witch, causing Azkadellia to draw her gaze away from the monsters around the ceiling. In the flash of an eye, the witch moved several feet closer. She was so fast that she seemed to just simply appear out of thin air.

"I thought this day would never come!" the witch continued triumphantly.

Azkadellia continued to hold her chin up in an air of defiance, almost bravely daring the witch to attempt to get past herself and DG. But, despite however brave she was trying to be, Azkadellia was beyond the point of being terrified. DG simply clung to her sister's hand, her eyes nearly glazed in shock at the sight of the witch.

The witch then noticed the light radiating from the sisters' joined hands. She looked down and her eyes widened in gleeful surprise. This seemed to be far more than she ever hoped would happen.

"Oh, the magic is strong in you," she rasped, surveying the girls. Her gnarled lips stretched into a sickening smile. "Let go."

Azkadellia only redoubled her grip on DG's hand.

"No," she said, far more calmly than she felt. "We don't let go."

"But I'm scared," said DG weakly, recovering some of the use of her voice.

"We have to stay together." Azkadellia again tightened her grasp, staring the witch down, and maintaining her demeanor of cool calm amid the storm raging in her mind.

"You can let go, little girl," said the witch to DG. The hag looked at DG, the expression on her hideous face akin to that of a vulture circling its dinner.

"No," insisted Azkadellia.

"Let go!" screamed the witch, trying to startle DG into dropping from Azkadellia's grasp.

But it didn't work. Something inside both girls hardened. Both grasped tighter as the light between them began to glow more radiantly. The creatures above them began to chitter louder. The witch's eyes glinted with maniacal fury and she tried to charge at them to break them apart. The girls' magic, which was stronger than the witch had estimated, pulsed strongly just as she reached for their hands, knocking her back against the stone wall.

The witch slid to the floor, collapsing in a heap of filthy rags. A few of the creatures flying about above had been low enough to be caught in the magic blast. They fell heavily to the floor, joining their mistress in a mess of splayed limbs and twisted wings.

Neither of the girls dared to stay in the cave long enough to get a closer look at either these mysterious creatures or the witch. They both turned and ran from the cave as fast as they could. Tumbling hurriedly through the cave's entrance, they stumbled over the exposed roots of trees and creeping vines.

The run back to the lake and their mother seemed to take an eternity for Azkadellia. She didn't look back as she ran, hastily pushing her sister along. The dense trees finally began to thin, none too soon in her opinion. But neither girl slowed her pace. They ran, full speed, until they both tumbled up the steps to the gazebo where their mother still sat reading. DG skinned her knee and had another reason to cry.

There was a clamor of confusion for a few moments in the gazebo as the Queen attempted to soothe her frightened daughters. Once she heard the words "cave" and "witch" between panting breaths, she didn't waste a moment. She picked up DG, ordered Azkadellia to follow her, and hurried up to the castle on the grounds. After leaving both girls under the careful and watchful eye of their Tutor, the Queen hurriedly told the Captain of the Royal Guard to summon his best men and follow her into the forest.

By the time they had arrived at the cave, however, all they found was the broken stone face and an empty chamber. The witch was gone.


End file.
